Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-12-30
By WILLIAM PITTENGER,
MEMBER OF THE EXPEDITION.
copyrighted, 1887, by War Publishing Co., N. T.,
and published by arrangement with them.l
CHAPTER XIII.
THE LAST HOPE.

We crouched down as well as we could
in the tender while passing Ringgold, that
the enemy might not see our number, and
when beyond the town we arose and
looked about us. The country was mostly
wooded and rough, being much cut up by
the branches of the swollen Chckamauga
creeE. We had no fuel, though we might
have taken on a few water soaked fence
rails and broken them to burn; but what
would have been the use? Every COM
bustible scrap was carefully gathered up
and thrown into the engine. Worst symp-
tom of all, large pair of saddle bags,
which we had never seen Andrews with
out from the time of the midnight confer
ence, together with his cap and some
other pieces Of clothing that he did not
need for immediate use, were flung re-
morselessly into the furnace. Various
papers went along. These were probably
documents that he feared would compro-
mise himself or others in case of capture
Such preparations were indeed ominous
But his next command-the last he ever
gave to us as party-was more dreadful
still, and for the first time that day there
shot pang of mortal terror to my heart
Not the crash of the engine down an en-
bankment nor the coming of another
train of the enemy from the north, shut
ting us between two fires, would have
caused such a sense of despair and hope
less misery to steal over me. This was
the order which, as intimated before, our
party, had they been properly organized,
would not have obeyed
For our situation was still far from des-
perate. Aside from the capture of the
pursuing train, which would now have
= 20 -,
had neither fuel for rapid running, nor
the distractions ON board that were nee
eSsary to place us far enough ahead for
an ambuscade, there was another plan to
which our leader was virtually pledged,
which presented every prospect of saving
our own lives, though it was now too late
to accomplish our original purpose. We
were some five miles beyond Ringgold
within a mile of Graysville, or nineteen
miles by the longest railway course from
Chattanooga. From that city westward
to Bridgeport was twenty-eight miles fur
ther. But the nearest way to Bridgeport
was not through Chattanooga, but fur
Their south, and by that route it was not
distant more than thirty five or forty
miles. The direct course was at right
angles with the numerous mountain
ranges which here run almost north and
south, a route over which cavalry could
not be used and which was known to
more than one of our party. Two com
rades had pocket compasses which would
have guided us in thick woods or in
cloudy weather by day or night. Now to
have left our train in body, and without
delaying to seek concealment, to have
struck over the streams and mountains at
right angles, as rapidly as we could go,
would have been our most hopeful
course. Long before night of the
next day we would have been safe
within Mitchels lines! Why notp How
could the enemy have captured usS If
they sent cavalry, these would necessarily
have made long circuits and have been
obliged to adhere to the lines of the road,
and thus could not have come near us
while clinging to the valleys and the
mountain sides. Even in thick woods
they could not have overtaken u.s. If
they followed us with strong party on
foot, we fleeing for our lives, would not
have deserved to escape, if we could not
have held our distance for forty miles or
more. If they had ridden ahead and
raised the whole country for n general
man hunt, they would have had only
twcntyfour hours or less to organize it,
and no small party then could have ar
rested twcnty armed men. In fine this
plan of escape through a mountainous
and densely wooded country did not APP
pear to me to be more dangerous than
cavalry dash on the lines of the enemy's
communications-an every day military
affair. Even il Mitchell did not prove to
be in the neighborhood of Bridgeport
when we arrived, we would then have
been in the loyal mountainous district
where we would have met as many friends
rs foes All that we needed in the way of
provisions AVID guides our force would
have enabled "a 10 command, and ever
guns and amTr",t'o on could readily have
been gathered O.: car way.
" But all these advantages depended on
our keeping together under one head. An
army scattered and disorganized is lost;
and our little army was no exception.
The fatal command which Andrews now
gave as we were huddled together in the
wood box of the tender was to lump off,
one by one, scatter in the woods. and each
man strive to make his own way back to
the Union armyi We hesitated, but had
no concert Of action, no leader, no time
for council, and the instinct of obedience
was still strong upon US; but it was a
fatal order, and led directly to the caami-
ties that followed. 1t transformed us in
q moment from formidable body of
picked soldiers, ready to fight to death,
into scattered mass of fugitive boys, be-
wildered and hopeless in an enemy's
country.
Yet no one OF us felt like consuming our
leader for this order, which every one at
the moment believed TO be a terrible mis-
take. Probably he thought that each
man OF the party would find rilief in